Senior citizen goes to buy milk, gets hit by dumper

A speeding BMC dumper truck struck a 65-year-old woman, injuring her severely in Mulund (East) on Wednesday morning. Padma Kokal was on her way to buy milk when tragedy struck.

Victim of rash driving: Doctors at Hira Monji Hospital in Mulund say that Padma Kokal has broken her shinbones into four pieces and the skin is completely damaged. PIC/SAMEER MARKANDE

The police identified the driver as Kashinath Pawar (41), a resident of Shahpur. He was booked for rash and negligent driving, but was released a few hours later.

Padma, a resident of Vasanti Vihar, Navghar road, was rushed to a civic hospital, but she was later shifted to a private facility where she is likely to be operated. She has sustained severe injuries to her ankle.

Narayan Kokal, a relative of the victim, informed that Padma would usually go for a morning walk around 6.30 am. However, that fateful morning, she was late and stepped out of the house around 10.30 am.

"On reaching a junction, she waited for the traffic to slow down before she could cross the road, but suddenly a speeding dumper veered a sharp turn and ran over her right leg. Her cries alerted two policemen nearby who managed to nab the dumper driver and took her to a civic hospital nearby," said Narayan.

Padma, who was in excruciating pain, said, "I was about to cross the road when a speeding dumper came from nowhere and ran over my leg. I could not bear the pain and I landed on the ground. I could see a pool of blood around me."

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr S Ambegaonkar, who is treating her, said, "She has broken her shinbones into four pieces and the skin has come out. It requires a plastic surgeon's intervention. Her wound has started stinking, which indicates that there is lot of infection inside."

"Our emphasis would be to save her leg, but even after our initial few surgeries, if she does not show signs of improvement, we may have to resort to the last option of amputating her leg. Though we have administered two bottles of blood, she may require more after the surgery," the doctor said.

Her kin are worried about the rising hospital bills and are hoping that the BMC provides them with financial assistance.

8,000The number of BMC dumpers at work in Mumbai due to construction activity and work related to roads and drainage